Lowe's defends pulling ads from Muslim TV show

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. home improvement chain Lowe's Monday defended its decision to pull advertising from reality TV show "All-American Muslim" amid charges the company had given in to bigotry.

"All-American Muslim," which airs on TLC, follows several Muslim families in and around the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan, which is home to one of the largest Muslim populations in the United States and its largest mosque.

It has been accused by one Florida group to be propaganda. But the decision by Lowe's sparked an outcry by defenders of the show.

Lowe's employed its Facebook page to defend itself and called "All-American Muslim," a "lightning rod" for "strong political and societal views."

Lowe's spokeswoman Karen Cobb said the company was one of "dozens" of companies to pull their advertising late last month. Names of other companies were not immediately available.

Laurie Goldberg, a TLC spokeswoman, declined to say how many companies have pulled their advertising from the show, which attracts about a million viewers per week.

"We stand behind the show 'All-American Muslim' and we're happy the show has strong advertising support," Goldberg said.

Hip hop mogul Russell Simmons said in a series of messages on Twitter defending the embattled reality T.V. show that he had bought up the remaining ad spots.
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